A few readers emailed me about Chinese asparagus beef recipe, one of the more popular beef recipes you can order at Chinese restaurants in the United States. Asparagus is a great vegetable to cook, especially with the protein of your choice, be it chicken, beef, or shrimp.
I love the idea of asparagus beef, in a savory sauce, with some red bell peppers, and hence this asparagus beef recipe that goes very well with steamed white or brown nice.
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One of the common mistakes of Chinese stir-fry is the sauce—gloppy, gooey, and starchy brown sauce that makes the entire dish unappetizing. The best Chinese stir-fries should be light, with just the right amount of sauce coating the beef or chicken.
The beef should be sliced against the grain so they are tender when cooked, and the Chinese techniques of “velveting” and marinating the protein with some cornstarch makes the meat even more juicy and tender. I discussed all the techniques of Chinese stir-frying and cooking in my cookbook Easy Chinese Recipes.
If you are interested, you can get a copy at Amazon.
Anyway, another technique of making meat (beef or chicken) extra juicy and moist is to seal in the moisture content in the meat by flash frying the meat in really hot oil, or a quick stir-fry until they are half cooked.
I always use the second method, which is outlined in the recipe section.
Here is my asparagus beef recipe. If you don’t eat beef, you can always make it with chicken or shrimp. Either way, it is a delicious dish that you and your family will enjoy.
Bon appetit!
How Many Calories per Serving?
This recipe is only 250 calories per serving.
What Dishes to Serve with This Recipe?
For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
Asparagus Beef
Asparagus beef is a Chinese recipe made with asparagus and beef in yummy brown sauce. This recipe takes 20 mins.
Ingredients
- 8 oz. beef, cut into thin strips
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 6 oz. asparagus, cut into long strips
- One small red bell pepper cut into long strips
Marinade:
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon corn starch
- 3 dashes ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce or oyster sauce
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
Sauce:
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon black/dark soy sauce for coloring purpose
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons shaoxing wine
- 2 tablespoons corn starch
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 pinch salt
Directions
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1Marinate the beef with all ingredients in the Marinade, for 15 minutes.
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2Combine all the ingredients in the Sauce, stir and mix well, set aside.
-
3
Heat up a wok and add 1 tablespoon oil. When the oil is fully heated, add the beef and do a few quick stirs, until the surface turns opaque and slightly charred. Transfer out and set aside.
-
4
Clean the wok and add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil. When the oil is fully heated, add the garlic and stir-fry until aromatic. Add the asparagus, stir a few times before adding the beef back into the wok.
-
5
Add the Sauce and stir to combine well. Stir in the bell pepper and dish out to serve
Your recipes sound so good, but I am somewhat allergic to soy sauce. It causes me to get migraines, as does MSG. Is there any thing I can use instead of soy sauce?
Your recipes sound so good, but I am somewhat allergic to soy sauce. It causes me to get migraines, as does MSG. Is there any thing I can use instead of soy sauce?
As far as I know Kikkoman Tamari soy sauce has no msg, I use this instead of plain soy sauce
Nice recipe. Made it the 1st time for 7 (plus me) people who are not familiar with pretty much
any Asian cuisine (4x recipe). They liked it (no leftovers). 2nd time I made it for myself (1/2 recipe) and added 1 tablespoon
slivered pickled ginger and 1 tbl rice wine vinegar (it was a bit too sweet for me and lacked a
bit of tang). My (homemade) pickled ginger is made with a few star anise and a few dried peppers
thrown in (not by accident….). Sigh. Once again there were no leftovers…. :-) I might have also accidentally dropped
in a tsp of toasted sesame oil and a shake or two of toasted sesame seeds. Served it both
times over steamed Thai Hom Mali jasmine rice (methinks this is the best rice for this recipe).
This is a really, really good recipe for people who are new to Asian food (some curries that I happen to like are pretty lethal
at a potluck if the guests are not into fully spiced East Asian food). Used el cheapo delux bottom round. (perfect…
freeze it 15 minutes and it slices cross-grain perfectly- virtually no fat) Thanks!
Shaoxing wine? Am I the only one who has never heard of this? Please what can a small town girl use as a substitute
It’s Chinese rice wine, you can skip it.
Dry sherry
Made this last night and it was wonderful. I am questioning that it called for 1 tsp of pepper which seems like a lot. Also there was no salt called for but the dish really need some. After reading old comments I noticed that, evidently, salt was removed but I did need to add some after cooking. Would probably add 1/2 tsp salt and reduce pepper to 1/2 tsp as well.
Thanks for bring the black pepper to my attention, it was definitely a typo. I never use that much black pepper to marinate my meat, so the recipe has been updated. For the salt, I did add “Salt, to taste” in the Sauce section.
First, I love most of your recipes! However, this one is too salty for me. It requires 1 teaspoon of salt for marinating, and 1 teaspoon for the sauce! That’s a lot of sodium, on top of soy sauce and dark soy sauce! Your other recipes require only a sprinkle of salt to taste. Why this one is so different?
Hi Daniel, thanks for trying this recipe and sorry for mishap. This is definitely a typo and mistake, I never use this much of salt, in fact, I hardly use salt. I am really sorry and updated the recipe.
What kind of beef did you use for this?
Flap meat.
This looks so good! I need to learn to cook ASAP so I can make something as delicious as this.
This looks so good! I need to learn how to cook ASAP so I can make something so nice.